Are Oppositional-Defiant and Hyperactive–Inattentive Symptoms Developmental Precursors to Conduct Problems in Late Childhood?: Genetic and Environmental Links

Inattentive–hyperactive and oppositional behavior have been hypothesized to be developmental precursors to conduct problems. We tested these hypotheses using a longitudinal sample of 6,466 offspring of women selected from nationally representative US households. Conduct problems across 8–13 years were robustly predicted by conduct problems at 4–7 years, but also were independently predicted to a small extent by both inattentive– hyperactive and oppositional behaviors at 4–7 years. Longitudinal multivariate behavior genetic analyses revealed that the genetic and environmental factors that influence conduct problems at both 4–7 and 8–13 years also influence the putative precursors at 4–7 years. After genetic and environmental influences on conduct problems at 4–7 years were taken into account, however, inattentive– hyperactive and oppositional behavior at 4–7 years shared causal influences with conduct problems 8–13 years to a negligible extent. These findings suggest that after early conduct problems are controlled, little is gained in terms of prediction or understanding genetic and environmental influences on later child conduct problems by treating early inattentive–hyperactive and oppositional behavior as developmental precursors to later conduct problems.